Five Direct Marketing Copy Writing Tips... For Non-Copy Writers

Usually, Not With Pens

I don't mean to devalue the fine art of copy writing, as it's paid the bills for me in various forms for decades. But executives don't always have the time and means to rely on dedicated talent, especially in start-up situations and companies with small bandwidth. So while these tips shouldn't be used in lieu of a hire, they can help you out of a jam.

5) Talk it out.

This is an old broadcast journalism trick, and works well with any kind of selling copy: read it out loud. Better yet, have someone who isn't the writer do that. If it doesn't flow smoothly, with ease in diction, keep on with the writing and editing. By the way, if this seems untenable in a crowded office, just put a finger in your ear and whisper. Works just fine.

4) QA in Reverse.

The easiest editing misses come from errors of inclusion -- moments where our brains fill in words, usually small connectors, that we neglected to add. The best way to catch these mistakes is to edit copy backwards, where the order isn't reflexive. It's awkward and slow, which is a big reason why it works.

3) Use grammar and readability statistics.

This is a handy trick, and kind of addictive for the more obsessive among us. Here, you turn on (in the File, then Options, then Proofing tabs in MS Word) readability statistics, which allows you to isolate and analyze copy for passive verb sentence frequency, and grade level. The numbers here aren't that critical by themselves, though most good selling copy doesn't tend to go beyond 8th grade for B2C, 10th for B2B, and 12th for PR. The real key is that your copy isn't lurching back and forth from high to low and back again. Remember, it's direct marketing copy. If you can't keep it consistent and simple, you probably aren't keeping it profitable.

2) Calls to action matter.

This is a pet cause of mine, and one that I'd like many other copy professionals to adopt. No one needs to be told, in any setting in 2015 in the English speaking world, to Click Here. I'm also really not a fan of telling people to Submit, as it seems less than friendly.

You still should have a call to action, of course. It's just better if it's Learn More, or Shop, Browse, Go, View, Download, or even Get It. If all that seems off brand a simple (>) arrow works just fine. Just don't spend 9 characters and a space telling people what they've known to do for the past 20 years online. Thank you.

1) All copy is not created equal.

Unless you are hoping for SEO goodness as part of your project, your header, subhead, bullet points and call to action just matter more than the boilerplate. If you aren't spending more time and brain cells on those parts of the piece, you are doing it wrong.

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You've read this far, so by all means, connect with me personally on LinkedIn.You can always email me at davidlmountain at gmail.com. And, as always, I'd love to hear what you think about this in the comments.